Who summons a demon lord candidate to save the world?
by Dingirverse
Summary: A light novel idea I'm playing with. Get it free here as I upload it chapter by chapter. Follow the adventures of Midori as he tries to live in a world filled with magic, monsters, and politicking humans, but unlike those normally summoned, he is already strong. Level 100, but without magic. I've also done an Overlord crossover with this called: 'This time Ainz, you are not alone.'
1. Chapter 1: A bullet, not truck-kun

This is a light novel series I am thinking of publishing, partly inspired by one of my isekai fan-fictions. I will be making it available here for free to advertise it, and when I have enough chapters, I will publish a volume of the light novel on amazon and other online retailers. I can't guarantee I will upload this regularly, but having comics and anime made of my works is a passion of mine, and I thought trying the light novel route might be worth a shot. This is an early draft, so please be kind. Now enjoy. _(Lets just ignore that my Grey Faction series and Detective Michael series were also light novels, I just didn't know the term back then.)_

* * *

 **Another world Hero: who summoned an author to save the world?**

By Mark Green

* * *

 _"When an author is killed by a stray bullet, he meets God and is given the unique skill 'Balmung' the ability to kill and store powers and forms from defeated monsters. After which, he is summoned by the King of Finas and the magical court, along with a class of recently deceased students to be heroes. But screw that, he was just killed, sneaking off, he goes off to enjoy this magical world, and his second chance at life."_

* * *

 **Chapter 1: A stray bullet, not truck-kun**

* * *

 _'You've got to be kidding me!'_

 _(slowing heartbeat)_

 _'After everything that's happened...'_

 _(coughing blood)_

 _'I get killed like this!'_

 _(slowing heartbeat)_

The author stares up the ceiling of the bookstore, panicked fans and staff surrounding him, one was trying to apply pressure to the gushing wound in his chest, while another called for an ambulance. But they wouldn't make it time, he could tell. He couldn't even feel the pain anymore, his entire body had gone numb. With desperate effort, he lifted a shaking blood soaked hand, regarding it, as his sight began to darken.

 _'I finally succeed in my dream...and I get killed...by a stray bullet?'_

A robbery had occurred nearby, the criminals and police had started shooting at each other, and as they fled to the back of the store to safety, a single ricocheting bullet hit the author right through his heart and lung, heavily damaging the life sustaining organs. Whether it had been the police or criminal that killed him, he didn't know.

 _(the heart stopped beating)_

 _(a pained gasp)_

The author's eyes began to close, only darkness surrounding him. A single angry thought echoed in his mind _. 'What kind of sick joke is this, what kind of God would let me die like this?'_

 _(He died)_

* * *

 **Scene change: White void**

The author awoke, he was floating in a seemingly endless white void.

"Huh, so there is something after death," he remarked with mild surprise, regarding his surroundings, or rather lack of. "No women, booze, or television...well this is going to suck."

"Well, I don't know about that," said an amused voice behind him, whispered into his ear.

The author heavily elbowed the person in the nose on instinct, turning, he batted aside their flailing arms, and readied a punch, while grabbing them by front of their robes with his other arm.

'Wait…robes?'

"Please wait!" yelled the stranger in fear, making the author pause. "I mean you no harm."

The stranger was a man in his later years, wearing a brilliantly white robe, and an impossibly well manicured beard, he also had a golden halo hovering above his head.

"So who are you?" the author asked, his features irritated. "And if you say God, I'm going to hit you again."

The stranger began to laugh awkwardly, and refused to answer.

 _(Sweat drop)_

"Seriously?"

"Yep!" The stranger, now known as God replied. "Welcome to the wheel of reincarnation, normally an angel would handle this, but seeing as you weren't meant to die, I figured I would handle your situation myself."

A vein pulsed dangerously on the author's head, his gripped tightened, making God "Eeep!" in distress.

"Care to explain that, I feel some personal responsibility coming from your direction, what was meant to happen, huh?"

God sweat dropped, now regretting not sending an angel. "The stray bullet was meant to kill one of your fans, they were destined to become a vile killer in a few years, so we decided to sort things out early, as Hell is getting overly full and Satan is complaining. So it's easier for these people to die before they sin too much, but then the bullet just missed that person and got you instead...Sorry about that."

The author promptly headbutted God.

"You kill me, ruin my life, take me away from my family, and you say...Sorry about that?!"

"Ouch!" complained God, "on the plus side, when you were dying, the person who was supposed to die tried to stop the bleeding, it traumatised them when you died, and now they're a doctor, so well done," God said with a cheesy grin and a thumbs up.

"That's...It takes years, if not decades to become a Doctor," a sudden sense of dread of hit him. "How long have I been dead?" he asked.

"Hmm? About fifteen years, I'd say?" mused God. "Time is rather different here after all."

The author slumped forward in defeat, letting go of God, who sighed in relief. _'I'm dead anyway, so I suppose it doesn't matter.'_

God took a dramatic pose, hearing the man's thoughts, he replied. "It does matter, because we ruined your life and you saved a soul destined for evil, I as the God of this world, I owe you a favour, so how about being reincarnated in another world?" he asked. "We've been doing a lot of that lately, and it seems to work out well, though Truck-kun has been overworking lately...I think he just likes running over Japanese people."

"There's no way I'm being reincarnated," rejected the author. "I refuse to have a second childhood, and I'm not Japanese."

"You're so hard to please!" complained God. "Fine, I'll send you as you are into another world, I'll even give you a blessing, as that world is full of magic and monsters, something to help you out, so what would you like?"

'It's not like I have any better options,' mused the author, the alternative was to stay in this place, or go wherever it was dead people went. "What kind of power?" he asked. "Wait, I actually get to choose?"

"Sure, though there are limits of course, but feel free to be creative," replied God. This part was always fun, some chose some very interesting powers, a recent world traveller had wanted magically powered technology, they really didn't want to let go of the internet.

The author didn't need any consideration on the subject of what power or blessing to choose. "Look into my mind, and see the weapon I created in my Grey Faction series: Balmung. Just give me that."

 _'Balmung?'_ thought God, thinking of the legendary weapon wielded by Siegfried/Sigurd, also known as the Gram, depending on which saga you referenced, the actual origin of that legend was almost as old as the epic of Gilgamesh. God place a hand on the author's head and began reading his mind, he was surprised by the twisted, almost maddened nature of it, yet controlled by a far more ruthless practicality. This human would make an interesting, albeit terrifying world traveller.

God viewed the thousands of thoughts on the custom Balmung's history, form, power, and meaning. It was a tremendous legend in the making, but it was possible to make such a blessing, though he would need to limit it in a few small ways, a living weapon that was one with its host, capable of changing shape and storing limitless power, and using it against new foes. Hundreds of other minor aspects spun together into its legend and myriad of abilities and utilizations. In the saga of the young man's creation, it had devoured countless demons and Gods. He would make this Balmung, but it would be empty, he would have to fill it and grow it with his own efforts.

"Well?" the author asked, the man's features stoic, but a subtle hint of hope, a childish desire built of one who creates. God could understand this, he was much the same.

"It's doable," God replied, "but it won't have demonic power stored inside it, you must feed Balmung yourself," he held out his hand, and a mass of darkness swirled into existence, a predatory killing intent subtly leaked from it. "Here."

The author grinned, something he had created in fiction had been brought to real life. "Heh Heh," he chuckled, and without hesitation he stuck his hand into the mass of darkness. "Come, Balmung," it was spoken softly, but it was clearly an order, and Balmung responded, with a ghastly shriek as it burrowed beneath his skin. The author screamed as invasive agony shot his body, he fell to one knee, breathing heavily. It was inside of him.

 **Acquired: (Blessing) Balmung Custom**

A synthetic voice sounded in his mind, accompanied by a game-like chime.

 _'What the Hell?'_ he thought. Was God ripping ideas right out of manga and light novels?

God began to glow, radiating a power that reflected his position, the author stood before the deity with wide eyes, which faded to be replaced by a grin and a competitive gleam in his eyes. "Next time we meet, I'll be more powerful than you," he wasn't sure why he said it. But it felt right. To be able change a world or circumvent death. He wanted it.

God laughed. "That power I gave you is a destroyer, but try and become a creator in this new world if you wish."

"I'm an author, I'm already a creator," he rebuked.

Light engulfed the world traveller's senses, it was beginning.

"So what should I call you now?" God asked. "Dingir?" making reference to the wielder of Balmung within the books, one based on the author himself.

"No, I am not so grand yet," the author replied. He considered it, he had died in Japan, and God seemed to be ripping off light novels, so why not? translating his name into Japanese, he answered. "For now, call me Midori Sensou."

"What a cute name for such a scary looking man, should I call you Sen-chan?" God laughed, and before the now named 'Midori Sensou' could retort, the bright lights whisked him away to another world. At that exact moment, a bus of school kids crashed and fell to their deaths, and an old king summoned his kingdom's heroes, bringing them altogether.

* * *

 **Scene change: Another world**

Midori suddenly found himself in a gigantic throne room, filled with bright colours, gold, and the many nobles and royalty watching me with glee and awe. He looked down, a summoning circle still glittered on the red floor. He had been summoned it seemed, but he wasn't alone. Around him were at least a dozen teenagers, all short, skinny brats, Japanese by their features, but they had ridiculously bright hair colour and eyes, and clearly they were surprised by it as well, before they noticed where they were.

"Welcome to the Kingdom of Finas, brave heroes!" announced a man in royal garb, his crown and fingers packed with gold and jewels. "We have summoned you to save our kingdom!"

'Oh fuck this!' thought Midori, slowly heading for the exit, while the king rambled on.

* * *

 **\- Chapter End -**

* * *

 _A/N: So what are your thoughts so far, even though I know its only one chapter so far. Also if you want any OCs of yours to be in a published light novel series, PM me the details and I'll consider them. Have a wonderful day everyone, and be sure to check out my many Dingir fanfictions._


	2. Chapter 2: Demon Lord candidate

_A/N: Hi here's chapter two already, please enjoy._

 _Brace for MC status pages!_

* * *

 **Another world Hero: who summoned an author to save the world?**

By Mark Green

* * *

 _"When an author is killed by a stray bullet, he meets God and is given the unique skill 'Balmung' from one of his own books, it has the ability to kill and absorb powers from defeated monsters. After which, he is summoned by the King of Finas and the magical court, along with a class of recently deceased students to be heroes. But screw that, he was just killed, sneaking off, he goes off to enjoy this magical world, and his second chance at life."_

* * *

 **Chapter 2: Demon Lord Candidate**

* * *

Princess Reina watched on silently from the sidelines as her adopted father spoke with the newly summoned heroes. They were young, but almost adults by their kingdoms standards. She didn't agree with the summonings, kidnapping people from other worlds with magic, knowing that the ritual granted them multiple blessings that made them ideal as soldiers for war.

'I can't believe we're doing this again.'

Her father had used such people ten years ago to expand their kingdom and secure a coastal territory, and as the land was stolen from the monsters, fighting was fierce. All but one of the summoned heroes had died, that being herself. She had been a child then, and hadn't been sent out with the others.

To avoid being viewed poorly, the king adopted her, and tried to keep the truth hidden as much as possible. These students would likely be the same. She had a vague memory of their uniforms or something similar, they were high schoolers or middle schoolers. Her father would trick them with his words, and would likely die the same to achieve his ends.

He was a good father to her, and she had been too young to survive on her own, and had accepted the adoption, but when she learned he wanted to summon again, she felt her old hatred stir.

Reina shook her head of such thoughts, using her blessing: Gods Eye, allowing her to see a person's powers, levels, and such. Most of the kids had levels between 1 and 5, but they all had been granted with strong elemental powers, as shown by their hair colours. A person's hair and eye colour indicated what they could use, in some rare cases, a person could use up to two types of magic. Her original black hair had turned silver upon coming here.

'Hmm…What's this?' she thought, noticing an older man among the group of the summoned heroes, and he was slowly slipping passed the others. Crouching down low to avoid standing out, as he seemed to be much taller, and once he passed the last student, he dived into a forward roll out of the throne room in one swift moment though the partly open door.

'What on earth is he doing?' Reina wondered.

She also left the throne room, being careful not to attract her father's notice. As she passed through into the passageways, she noticed the guards paid him no mind.

'Wait…' she thought, he was no longer sneaking, striding with the confidence of a knight or nobleman, the guards therefore did not dare stop him, even if they hadn't seen him before. In addition, he wore a black suit, though simplified compared to what nobles wore here, black dye was an expensive colour to acquire.

'Clever guy,' she conceded. But where was he going?

Why was he not staying with the others? A thought occurred to her akin to a thunder strike, he knew! he knew the King was lying, and was finding a way out of the castle to avoid being used and killed as a hero.

She activated her Gods Eye to see the man's status.

'No way!' she thought.

* * *

 **Name: Midori Sensou** _ **(Alias)**_

 **Age: Unable to scan**

 **Race: Unable to scan**

 **Level: 100**

 **Alignment: Evil arts + Unique arts**

 **HP: 6000**

 **MP: 0**

 **STR: 500**

 **DEF: 800**

 **SPD: 300**

 **INT: 1000**

 **Blessing: Unable to scan**

 **Magic: None**

 **Skills: Unable to scan**

 **Titles: Unable to scan**

* * *

The princess was flabbergasted, level 100 meant that he was already stronger than all but the Kingdom's most elite Knights and Adventurers. A newly summoned hero was usually lower levelled than ten, and even that was extremely rare. Most started at level 1 or 2.

'He must have known combat in real life,' she realised, and a lot of it. But he had zero MP, which was odd, though his other stats were very high, if oddly balanced. High MP was the normal result of being blessed via the summoning ritual.

'Midori Sensou…' she mused, the man's name meant green war. 'But Alias? How could he hide his real name from her God's eye?'

Then the summoned man went around a corner and disappeared from sight. Reina hurried after him, wishing that court gowns were not so hefty. She followed him for a further ten minutes, he seemed to be exploring. Then suddenly she lost sight of him.

"Where the hell did he go?" she muttered.

* * *

 **(POV change)**

Midori walked silently behind the young woman, having snuck into her blind spot. "Too easy." It was amusing to think she thought she could follow someone like him without his noticing.

Then taking the nearest passage left, Midori walked away from her on silent steps, and headed for the treasury, or rather the wages office next to it that handled the castle employees wages.

He had found it after only a few minutes, but that young lady had been following him. So he had taken a few extra routes first to lose her, while at the same time planning several ways to escape the castle at the same time. 'But first I need money.'

He walked in, not bothering to knock, a single person worked in the back.

"I'll be with you in a moment," called the worker.

"No hurry," Midori politely replied. His eyes flickered about, spotting a small bag filled with small gold coins. He took the bag of coins, and quietly walked out, leaving the door open to avoid catching the attention of the worker.

* * *

 **32 Gold coins acquired/stolen**

* * *

"Well that worked out well," Midori mused as he transferred the gold to several of his suit pockets. Midori then continued strolling along the castle corridors until he saw the same back entrance that he had seen earlier, it was used for servants to get in and out for work, unfortunately it was guarded by three soldiers. Unlike the guards, they seemed much more intense and focused. His bluff probably wouldn't work. They didn't look too tough, but they had spears, and he hadn't had a chance to use Balmung yet, nor did he want to hurt people just doing their job.

"Well, there's one way to manage it," he sighed. pulling out a single gold coin and with a flick, sent the coin flying across the stone floor. The guards gazes immediately followed it, a gold coin was worth many months wages to them. They all dived for it, and Midori simply walked passed them, and off to freedom.

Nobody bothered him as he left the walled gates, and headed into the city the surrounded the castle. He glanced back though, feeling sorry for the kids that had been summoned as well. "Best of luck, don't die."

He faintly heard the woman from before gasp in the distance, but Midori ignored her, disappearing among the populace, he couldn't risk being stopped, no matter her reason for seeking him out.

* * *

 **(POV Change)**

Reina spotted him from one of the verandas, he was leaving. She wanted to talk to him, she wasn't sure why, perhaps it was because he saw through the King's manipulations. Or perhaps it was his black hair and grey eyes, who had such dark attributes? Or had he remained unchanged since being summoned.

Reina activated her God's Eye again as he looked back, maybe he had noticed her. She gasped as she read more information from his stats, several new lines revealed themselves as she used more magic to power her blessing.

 _(Veins bubble briefly beneath her skin at the strain.)_

 _The man's status in full appeared before her eyes, out of habit she memorized it. But what she read still elicited a gasp._

* * *

 **Name: Midori Sensou** _ **(Alias)**_

 **Age: 32 (47)**

 **Race: Undead**

 **Level: 100**

 **Alignment: Evil arts + Unique arts**

 **HP: 6000**

 **MP: 0**

 **STR: 500**

 **DEF: 800**

 **SPD: 300**

 **INT: 1000**

 **Blessing: Balmung Custom** _ **(Unable to scan details)**_

 **Magic: None**

 **Skills: mastery of barehanded martial arts, mastery of weaponry, tracking, hunting, assassination, torture, writing, cooking, thievery, manipulation, Expert throwing, Alpha, immunity to holy, resistance maximum - all, berserker, air perception, earth perception, regeneration, magic analyse, status scan, undead create - low.**

 **Titles:**

 **1) The world traveler blessed by the Creator God**

 **2) The man that challenges the Gods**

 **3) Demon Lord Candidate**

* * *

Reina shuddered. 'Father has summoned a monster, not a hero…'

He disappeared from sight amoung the general population who passed the castle.

A small smile crossed her beautiful face. 'Good…'

* * *

 **\- Chapter End -**

 _Next Chapter: Blessed and cursed_

* * *

 _I hope that you enjoyed the next chapter, please review and recommend to others to read._

 _And if you can, help me out by purchasing my books, comics, and light novels._

 **MY MAIN BOOKS AND COMICS:**

 _(available in paperback and EBook/Kindle)_

 _Search the titles on Amazon, Lulu, Barnes &Noble, and most major online retailers._

 **Grey Faction:** Arrival of the Grey Queen

 **Grey Faction:** Mistaken Apostles

 **Grey Faction Comic:** Jinhai's Justice

 **Grey Faction Manga:** School Wars

 **Detective Michael:** The Scalpel Murder

 **Detective Michael:** Riverside Mystery

 **Detective Michael Comic:** Volume 1

 **Vampire Attack:** Empire of Shadows

 **Secret Yuuki & the Guilty Heart Chronicles:** Dimension Wars

 **Secret Yuuki & the Guilty Heart Chronicles:** Starlight Alliance

 **Nexus Comic:** Volume 1

 **'N' Things Anthology:** Corpses 'N' Things

 **'N' Things Anthology:** Monsters 'N' Things


	3. Chapter 3: Blessed and cursed

_A/N: Sorry for the delay in uploading this chapter, I promised one reader I'd have it out nearly a week ago, sadly I've been butting heads with thugs, druggies, hookers, and not in a fun way. They took over the flat (illegally) my dad lives above and have been total assholes, the police were useless, so I've been super aggressive, stressed, and focused on that. Its still ongoing, but actions are underway to deal with them, and today I finally got around to doing this. So enjoy._

* * *

 **Another world hero: who summoned an author to save the world?**

By Mark Green

* * *

 _"When an author is killed by a stray bullet, he meets God and is given the unique skill 'Balmung' from one of his own books, it has the ability to kill and absorb powers and forms from defeated monsters. After which, he is summoned by the King of Finas and the magical court, along with a class of recently deceased students to be heroes. But screw that, he was just killed, sneaking off, he goes off to enjoy this magical world, and his second chance at life."_

* * *

 **Chapter 3: Blessed and cursed**

* * *

Midori stayed the night in a small inn run by an old woman and her daughter.

The gold coins he had stolen were worth a lot more than he realized, or rather that it was too much to be spending at an inn, they hadn't the change. They gave him directions to a trading/exchange shop who swapped a Gold coin for a large number of bronze and silver coins, though they charged a small fee for doing so.

Midori then brought a hooded traveller's cloak, it was brown sadly, but they didn't sell black, apparently black dye only came from a very particular type of sea monster and it was rather high levelled, and very expensive. It did its job though, of covering up his suit, which made him stand out.

Not completely though.

"He's got black hair…"

"He's cursed."

Midori pulled up the hood.

After that, he took more note of everyone's hair colour, they were all brightly coloured, and yet didn't seem dyed. Most were reds, blues, yellows, and greens, he spotted and few brown haired people, but none were black haired like him. It seemed to be something commoners cared about, but the guards hadn't reacted, or had his bluff simply worked too well.

'Those kids, despite being Japanese, they had brightly coloured eyes and hair as well.' he mused.

'My power is dark in nature, is it related to something as simple as my colouration?' Even though his hair had been black and his eyes grey back in his original world.

He returned to the inn, paid them and spent the time until dinner laying on his bed.

A knock on the door.

"Dinner's being served, hurry up, youngster!" called the old woman.

"Coming!"

Heading down, he saw a dozen others, already eating, taking a seat at the edge, he was given a bowl of stew, and a weak beer. But it was included in the price and he wasn't complaining. After all, technically, he hadn't eaten or drunk anything for fifteen years.

"Ah! much better!" Midori grinned, before bringing over his bowel, spoon and empty flagon. "Thanks, much appreciated."

"Ha!" the old woman laughed, taking them off him. "You must be hungry, if you ate my fare so quickly."

"Losing your confidence as a cook, are you?" Midori grinned with a wink. "Or fishing for compliments?"

"Cheeky brat."

"Brat?" Midori grinned. "You've got ten years on me at the most."

"Flatterer, you must be hoping for another free drink. I'm sixty years old."

"Okay, fine, so your thirteen years older than me," Midori conceded. He was physically thirty-two, but he was counting the fifteen years he'd been dead. Though mostly just to see her reaction.

"Y-Your nearly fifty?" she replied stunned. "What kind of luck do you have?"

"Heh," Midori grinned in reply.

"Very funny, you almost had me going there."

Later that evening, after everyone had left to either go drinking elsewhere or return to their rooms. Midori was out back in the kitchens helping with the mountain of dishes, it wasn't purely out of the kindness of his heart, as he hoped to ask a few questions, he couldn't stay so naïve of how this world worked.

The old woman and her daughter were named Elizabeth and Jenny.

"Not often you get such a kind lad," Elizabeth said.

"Much obliged, you've been rather lovely yourself…as I've noticed people reacting badly to my hair, so it's nice to have a proper conversation without that being an issue. Do you know why that is incidentally," Midori asked, bringing up the subject.

"Huh, what kind of a rock did you live under?" Elizabeth demanded in her gruff manner, giving me a puzzled look.

"I lived in a small village near the border, most of people had brown hair, and a few having black hair, I've not had any problems since prior to coming here," Midori explained.

"Well it's basically just a really old superstition, after the creator God finished making this world, he created six lesser Gods to oversee the world, when humans came along, they divided them by blessing a nation each with magic. With how long ago that was, most people are mixed and every country has a lot of each type of blessing in their citizens. Only one group didn't get blessed, and they remained black haired, who lacking magic turned to the dark arts of the monsters."

"So they were one God short, and black haired people got blamed as evil for being the odd one out," Midori concluded.

"Probably," she huffed. "Take this as advice from someone older than you, humans are the biggest idiots out there, even the smart ones."

( _Sweatdrop_ )

"That isn't news to me," Midori smiled awkwardly.

"Ha!" she laughed good naturally, Jenny then kindly took the trouble to explain it all to him. They probably thought he was a huge idiot, but he couldn't afford to show ignorance going forward.

* * *

 _ **(later that evening: Inn bedroom)**_

"Ugh…these beds are uncomfortable," Midori sighed, a hand rubbing his lower back. He'd gotten used to his foam mattress back on Earth. The ones here weren't nearly as soft. "I'm not a young man anymore." He'd broken too many bones over the years, and it was starting the catch up with him. He'd manage though, he always did.

Even this bizarre world, rather than racism, they discriminated against each other based upon what blessings they had. Truly idiotic, he dared not think how demi-humans were treated. He had spotted a few, but in the king's own city, they were a clear minority. Merchants, adventures, and servants only seemed to brace the idiot king's land.

Now having been explained of the blessings and such, he understood why those kids had been summoned, like himself they received a strong blessing based upon their magical alignment, apparently it was much stronger than a normal denizen of this world.

'And I've seen enough anime and read enough Isekai manga to know the standard traps and pit falls,' Midori thought with a smirk.

The king had spoken of how their land was in danger and desperate due to the monster kin at their borders, and yet both the castle, the King, Queen, Princess, had been heavy with gold, silver, and jewels, and outside the people were not well off, but didn't have the struggling drudgery of a poor country, it was all a lie. He needed expendable soldiers for some reason, immigrants with strong blessings would do just fine.

'That bastard's eyes were enough to give him away,' Midori mused, those flat, almost dead eyes, that somehow glittered with the charm and presence of a good actor, not a king. Still being summoned to the castle had given him the chance to steal money for the start of his journey, and the inn owners Elizabeth and Jenny had given him the basics he needed.

Simply put:

Yellow hair meant you could use Light/Holy arts.

Brown hair meant you could use Earth arts.

Red hair meant you could use Fire arts.

Green hair meant you could use Lightning arts.

Blue hair meant you could use Water arts.

White/Grey hair meant you could use Unique arts.

Black hair meant you had no blessing, but many had learnt dark arts.

'Guess that makes me a Unique arts and Dark arts user,' Midori thought. 'But then I was black haired and grey eyed before I came here…Maybe it's because I was blessed by the Creator God, not the six lesser Gods, wouldn't that make that idiot the blesser of the black haired, or was it just me as another world traveler.'

* * *

 _ **(Later…)**_

After a quick wash using a bucket of cold water and soap that was left in the room. He took a moment to regard himself. Thickly built and packed with muscles meant for martial arts, laced with faint web-like scars, though several angry red scars stood out, his legs particularly had more than their fair share, though much of that scarring was from ulcers that occurred after near fatal wound had gotten badly infected.

"God could have a least made me a new body," Midori sighed, fingers lightly brushing the ugly bullet hole over where his heart had been, he awkwardly checked his back, and found a matching hole.

"It went right through me, huh?" He placed his palm over where his heart was, feeling for a beat of his heart, but there was none.

 _(…?!)_

"It's not even bleeding… Can I even be considered alive right now?"

 _(Sigh…)_

* * *

 ** _(Scene change: Heaven)_**

God regarded the human he had sent to the fantasy world of Uwa, he had unfortunately gotten caught up in the King of Finas's summoning spell and arrived in the wrong place. The lad had cleverly avoided the royals and acquired starting funds through less than legal means.

'Hmm…I'm surprised he just realised that I revived him as an undead," God mused. "It's not like I could bring him back as a human without reincarnating him as a new life in this world."

He saw Midori curse as he checked his lack of a heartbeat. 'Well I suppose he hasn't even tried to open his menu yet.'

* * *

 **Chapter End**

 _Next Chapter:_

 _Orcs and violence, part 1_

* * *

 _I hope that you enjoyed this belated chapter, please review and recommend to others to read._

 _And if you can, help me out by purchasing my books, comics, and light novels._

 **MY MAIN BOOKS AND COMICS:**

 _(available in paperback and EBook/Kindle)_

 _Search the titles on Amazon, Lulu, Barnes &Noble, and most major online retailers._

 **Grey Faction:** Arrival of the Grey Queen

 **Grey Faction:** Mistaken Apostles

 **Grey Faction Comic:** Jinhai's Justice

 **Grey Faction Manga:** School Wars

 **Detective Michael:** The Scalpel Murder

 **Detective Michael:** Riverside Mystery

 **Detective Michael Comic:** Volume 1

 **Vampire Attack:** Empire of Shadows

 **Secret Yuuki & the Guilty Heart Chronicles:** Dimension Wars

 **Secret Yuuki & the Guilty Heart Chronicles:** Starlight Alliance

 **Nexus Comic:** Volume 1

 **'N' Things Anthology:** Corpses 'N' Things

 **'N' Things Anthology:** Monsters 'N' Things


	4. Chapter 4: Orcs and violence, part 1

**A/N: Here's the newest chapter. Thanks for waiting.**

* * *

 **Another world Hero: who summoned an author to save the world?**

By Mark Green

 _"When an author is killed by a stray bullet, he meets God and is given the unique skill 'Balmung' from one of his own books, it has the ability to kill and absorb powers and forms from defeated monsters. After which, he is summoned by the King of Finas and the magical court, along with a class of recently deceased students to be heroes. But screw that, he was just killed, sneaking off, he goes off to enjoy this magical world, and his second chance at life."_

* * *

 **Chapter 4: Orcs and violence, part 1**

* * *

Bidding Elizabeth and Jenny goodbye the following morning. Midori headed for the outskirts of the city, keeping his hood up to avoid notice.

'I don't know what I should do with my second life, but for now I should avoid the reach of the royals, especially that princess from before. She was way too suspicious of me.'

Despite the city being surrounded by high walls, which was new to Midori, their buildings and attire was similar to how people in his country had been a few centuries ago. It made him feel slightly less alienated in this world. It took him several hours to reach the nearest gate while walking a leisurely pace, and just outside of it, he saw his first monster kin. An Orc.

Orcs had appearance of being both a human and pig, enormously strong, an all male race that kidnapped females to reproduce, typically human or elf. Or at least that was the standard depiction in fantasy stories, often associated with Goblins.

"Die! you damn beast!"

This wasn't the case this time.

Six men were kicking and shoving around a young Orc.

'What the Hell are they doing?' Midori thought, rushing over. The Orc was about half the size of a normal adult, wearing a peasant smock, there was a large sack of plants spilled over the floor nearby. Above the plants was floating writing, 'Medicinal plants.' It seemed he had some kind of scan ability or gamer vision. Interesting, but more importantly…

 _(?!)_

'Are those tears?' thought Midori, eyes burning with indignation. 'The bastards are ganging up on this child.'

Midori strode forward, clenched his fist in irritation, as he drew close he took a low stance and tackled into the men, sending them all sprawling. He pulled the Orc behind him, who was now openly crying, the voice, clearly that of a child was clear to hear.

"What the fuck is your problem?" one demanded.

"Yeah, get lost or do you want a beating too?"

"Damn monster lover!"

People were watching with surprise, but made no move to get involved.

Midori regarded the idiots with a frown. "What has this child done beyond being an Orc?" he asked.

This surprised them, they obviously just liked to beat of non-humans.

Finally one of them said, "Because he was trying to sell his filthy wares, now get lost or we'll give you a beating too."

Midori grinned, a feral smile, and for a moment his eyes burned with a golden light.

 _(?!)_

"Good, I was hoping you were just a bunch of idiots, I'm actually in the mood to break someone, thanks for volunteering." Midori glanced to the sobbing Orc child, and lightly patted his head, making the glance up in surprise. "It's okay little one, I'm here."

The Orc child quietened, regarding him with a mix of suspicion and hope.

The first man charged at him, a big fellow with a beard, wearing the garb of a tanner, fist pulled back. A big swing. Lots of force.

But it might as well been in slow motion. In his past life, Midori had been raised in using multiple forms of martial arts, many self taught, but he had also learnt from his father, an ex gang member, and two martial arts masters when he was older.

His father had taught him 'Open Hand' the underworld version of boxing. It had been used in life and death street fights for centuries. It was ruleless boxing that also included palms, elbows, grabbling, and many techniques later stolen from Chinese Kenpo from when England had controlled Hong Kong, roughly 156 years ago.

Using his wrist to hook the attack, Midori stepped back, making his opponent overextend and fall forward.

Midori's knee rose, striking him in the stomach with staggering force, using his fall to add to the weight of his attack. Still, he wasn't expecting the man to be sent sprawling a significant distance as though struck by a car.

'I didn't hit him hard enough to do that…' Midori thought in surprise.

What Midori didn't know was that the levelling system was radically different from how Earth worked. On his original world there was a limit to how strong and fast you could be before your body couldn't endure the recoil of your own attacks and movements. In the world of Uwa, you simply got stronger, regardless of your build or muscles, level was everything when it came to basic stats.

So Midori's limits had weakened significantly, and had unlocked immense physical strength.

Additionally as an Undead, he could push himself further than he could have done while alive.

The average adult person's strength was 40 to 80, with a good warrior's strength being 70 - 150.

A legendary warrior's strength was easily over 200, which was enough to overpower large monsters barehanded.

Midori's strength stat was 500.

Neither was it his highest stat, in fact only his speed stat was lower. There probably wasn't a human alive that could win in terms of brute strength. But then battle was so much more than that, and there were races with stats that could reach 1000.

The remaining five watched him cautiously, one then turned and ran. The others ignored his retreat. Those four then drew weapons. Three had large knives beneath their clothing, while the other had a broadsword and wore the garb of an adventurer, but was more likely to be a bandit given the way he carried himself. Far too predatory.

"Kid, stay where you are, it's going to get a little dangerous now," Midori said, stepping forward.

"O-Okay…"

'Wadou-Ryuu for this one…' Midori thought absently, oddly calm in the face of the danger, even for him. The sword swung down at him, a big overhead swing. His lead foot slid forward, dragging him close at the last moment, he drove his forearm with an outward swing into the side of the blade with expert timing, making the sword dig into the ground instead of him. But before that, that same arm slipped forward from the block, and with the same movement, Midori drove his fingers into the man's throat with a knife hand. The bandit looking man dropped to the ground, coughing up violently. The back of his head now exposed, Midori raised his arm and swiftly smashed his palm into the back of his skull, the same technique that karate demonstrators do to break bricks and tiles to show off. Not that Midori had ever done one of those, his first master class sensei made them do it on each other in full contact spars.

 _'As long as you can kill your enemy with it, why train to break things that won't kill you back?'_

That said, Midori tried it on a wall when he was twelve and broke his fingers, he had definitely preferred flesh, muscle and bone, he knew what to do with that, and the best way to destroy it. That said, his strength was somehow greater than before, so Midori held back, none the less there was definite cracks in the ground with the second defeated enemy's face firmly planted at the centre.

'Yep, he isn't getting up.'

 _(Gurgle…)_

 _(Sweatdrop)_

Midori suddenly reached out, catching the wrist of the third man, who tried to stab him from a blind spot. A sound tactic, but he wasn't light enough on his feet to deceive him.

 _(!)_

Midori squeezed, and the man shrieked, dropping the knife.

He then twisted his wrist, elbow and shoulder with one swift movement, using Aikido he had learned as an adult from his second master after he had to deal with a nutter that wanted to kill his baby brother (about ten at the time) and wanted to be ready as he'd been slacking off for a few years, simply doing body building, and it had been very helpful. If he hadn't needed to look after his mother when she got injured, he probably would have still gone to that dojo. But then he'd learned what he had came to learn, and got to beat up a lot of older men who were cocky but obviously didn't fight outside of the safe environment of a dojo.

'Jeez…I must be relaxed if I've got time to think about the past,' Midori pondered, hurling the swearing knife wielder into the last two, knocking them both out. And he truly was, there was none of the familiar excitement, fear, and adrenaline that Midori had come to associate in a fight where his life was at risk. 'How unusual,' his expression deadpan.

Those watching him cheered, rather some did, others glared.

Midori glared back, and most of them left, fearing his ire.

He then heard a mechanical chime in the back of his head. He had heard something similar when he had stolen the gold at the castle.

'Another game mechanic?'

* * *

 **First victory: Congratulations!**

 _50 Experience points (EP) gained._

 _4 Iron Daggers gained._

 _1 Steel Sword gained._

Error: Max level already reached for stage 1 being. Unable to add EP to total until conditions met.

* * *

Midori watched the weapons vanish from the ground.

But error? Max level? Stage 1?

'I must have a menu or something,' Midori realised. But he would check it later.

He turned around, picking up the spilled contents of the medicine and putting it back into the sack. He narrowed his eyes, hoping to see more info than the name above the items. The word scanned popped into his head.

* * *

 **Medical plants x 531**

Info: _Magical plants that can be made into low level potions. Boil with water - dissolves after ten minutes of boiling. Five leaves to each bottle (250ml) required. An easy potion production method. Available only in Orc, Elf and Dragon lands._

 _Low level potion value: 1 small silver (not including bottle or mark ups.)_

* * *

'Oh, cool…this is convenient,' Midori thought, approaching the child. There was enough here to make over a hundred potions, and was worth at least a hundred small silvers, making it worth roughly as much as a standard gold coin, remembering what the mother-daughter duo at the inn had told him, given that he had tried to pay with gold like an idiot.

'I could use some potions, and given the way that Orc kid was treated, I wouldn't be surprised if they short-changed him,' Midori thought, handing the sack back to the child, who held it tightly, lowering his/hers head in thanks.

"So kid, now that we've got that unpleasantness out of the way. How much were you looking to sell those for?" he asked softly. "I don't mind buying them."

"Fifty small silvers…" the Orc child said nervously, as though he was asking a lot, then backing away slightly when he saw Midori's expression darken.

"They are worth more than twice that child," Midori said, keeping his tone soft to avoid frightening the child further. He knew he looked terrifying when angered.

"I'll give you 106 small silvers for it, that's what it's actually worth," Midori said, pulling out two small gold coins, and six small silvers, which the child took with delight. Midori stood, slinging the sack over his shoulder. He spotted the few still watching them, eyeing the coins in the child's hands with a hungry gleam.

"Thank you mister," the Orc child said, putting them in a small pouch tied firmly to their waist.

"You're welcome," Midori smiled. "Since you've been attacked once already, allow me to escort you home."

"Eh?"

"It's fine, I was leaving the city anyway."

* * *

 **CHAPTER END**

 **Next chapter:**

 _Orcs and violence, part 2_

* * *

 _ **Basic info time: Uwa currency!**_

 _While different countries stamp their coins differently, most of them follow the same rules and weights, allowing for an ease in trading with other nations. Though the King of Finas had undercut his own coinages value by ordering a small amount of the coins inner core to be replaced by a lesser metal, saving on the silver, gold, and platinum content. Some traders realised this, but couldn't directly challenge the king, and so began trading with more honest nations. Which in turn angered the king towards those nations._

 _So here's the run down._

 **Fragment coins** \- those that have been broken or filed down can be traded to smelters for the materials value.

 **Smallest copper** \- (quarter coin) About the size of a penny. Value: £0.01

 **Small copper** \- (half coin) about the twice the size of a penny. Value: £0.05

 **Standard copper** -(full coin) Value: £0.10

 **Large copper** \- Larger and thicker than a standard coin. Value: £0.25

 **Standard bronze** \- Worth four times the value of a standard copper coin. Value: £1.00

 **Large bronze** \- Value: £2.50

 **Small Silver** \- Value: £50.00

 **Standard Silver** \- Value: £100.00

 **Large Silver** \- Value: £200.00

 **Small Gold** \- Worth fifty times that of a small silver. Value: £2500.00

 **Standard Gold** \- Value: £5000.00

 **Large Gold** \- Value: £10000.00

 **Platinum royal coin** \- Only a small number exist, printed only when a new King or Queen takes over, they are often seen as a sign of nobility and ones success and its value often exceeds its material value within its own kingdom, partially wealthy collectors. Value: £50,000 +

* * *

 _A/N: These prices were based on about 20 minutes of online research, for any discrepancies vs. real life, we'll just say that's how the people of Uwa value them. Different world after all, also since we're in Finas right now, most of the coins have the King's ugly mug on them, except for silver, which has the Queen's, though pre-marriage coins will still have the King's._

 _Also I'm not sure when the next chapter will be out as I have lots of personal stuff to deal with, including dealing with the police._

 _But I shall return!_

 _Check out my other stories in the meantime._


	5. Chapter 5: Orcs and violence, part 2

**A/N:** _ **Here's the newest chapter. Thanks for waiting. As mentioned previously I will upload as and when my schedule allows, and when I have a volume's worth of chapters, I'll publish it on Amazon, Lulu, and Barnes & Noble, I've got some great artwork for the covers. As for the police issue, that has been resolved, so hopefully I'll be a little less stressed now. **__**By the way, I've changed this story's title, I'll update the chapter info as and when time allows.**_

 _ **Currently I'm working on the forty page comic that loosely covers the events of my first full novel, 'Grey Faction: Arrival of the Grey Queen' for those who are too lazy to read novels, and to give me something much lighter to bring to comic cons. Those books weigh like a kilo each, and I can bring 10 comic versions for the same amount of weight, an obvious choice.**_

* * *

 **Who summons a demon lord candidate to save the world?**

By Mark Green

 _"When an author is killed by a stray bullet, he meets God and is given the unique skill 'Balmung' from one of his own books, it has the ability to kill and absorb powers and forms from defeated monsters. After which, he is summoned by the King of Finas and the magical court, along with a class of recently deceased students to be heroes. But screw that, he was just killed, sneaking off, he goes off to enjoy this magical world, and his second chance at life."_

* * *

 **Chapter 5: Orcs and violence, part 2**

* * *

The young Orc's name was Armas, part of the Siga clan, they were a group of Orcs that lived in the forest just west of Finas's border, in a village called Siga Kula. Midori and Armas followed the wide path had been formed through the forest for traders, merchants, and military to quickly journey to the coastal city that had been built after defeating the monster kin that once called it home, some of the surviving scattered clans still lived there apparently. According the young Orc however, they had to give nearly half their crops to the King, or be executed. Only those that obeyed that rule were allowed to survive within their former territory. However this forced them to strictly control their population or risk starvation.

"But thanks to selling the medicine we grow, we can purchase food from travelling merchants during food shortages," Armas explained, still showing some hope in his snouted gaze. Perhaps it was being around the man who had saved him, and even brought his wares at a price better than he or his village ever expected.

Or perhaps it was because this man, Midori Sensou, didn't feel like a human at all.

He looked human, but he was bigger and stronger than humans Armas had seen before, he had black hair too, like those without blessings, outsiders like them. 'And his aura feels like a monster?' Armas wasn't sure, but a strange, comforting darkness hung around Midori, like being in his parent's arms.

"Then why did they send a child like you to handle something so important?" Midori asked, feeling perceptive after the brawl. "You could easily be robbed by humans, either for the medicine, or whatever money you brought back, why do you think I'm accompanying you back?"

Armas was shocked, though he tried to keep it from showing on his features, his voice however, advertised it. "E-Everyone else is b-busy…"

"You're a poor liar," Midori said, making the little Orc flinch with his bluntness. "Something at your home is forcing you to be the one to sell these medical plants."

"I'm not allowed to s-say!" Armas cried back.

Midori considered what Armas had said about their crops, the king, sending a child instead of an adult. There were several possibilities that could apply here. "The King has increased the crop percentage for taxes, your people are starving I expect." Armas's head snapped up to meet his grey eyes. "And they've been taking your healing plants as well." Armas nodded.

"He makes all the adults farm all day, and they cart away almost all the crops, we won't have enough for winter," Armas explained. "They make us kids gather the healing plants, but I was able to hide some so we can make some money to buy food." The young Orc beamed with pride, not realising how naïve that thinking was.

The King's soldiers would take the money or any food that the Orcs brought; these were the kinds of actions that preluded war. The King had also summoned those kids as his heroes, given powerful magical blessings, to be his new weapons. The King probably planned to purge this region with them, but first drain them of any remaining resources.

'I want to help, but with the King involved, it won't be an easy fix solution, and they've probably got overseers there to make sure the Orcs don't try to stockpile anything without their knowledge. Even if I chase them off, the King would eventually send a subjugation force, or even an army to erase the Orcs. I'm going to need to be careful here. This isn't a street fight or a battle with gang members; I need to play this smart.'

"They'll steal the money from you, you know that right?" Midori eventually stated.

"Not if I hide it until they leave!" Armas retorted with childish logic.

"It won't work that way," Midori sighed, crouching down until they were at eye level. "The King just yesterday summoned new heroes to eliminate non-existing enemies. He'll probably use them to get rid of the few monsters who managed to survive in his stolen territory."

"N-No, you're wrong!" Armas yelled, tears in his eyes. "What I did is going to help!" and he turned and ran into the mass of trees.

(0.0)

"I screwed that up, huh?" Midori muttered, absently scratching his head. 'I guess I should get going then, it's not like I owe the kid anything, and I already got him out the city.'

Midori continued down the path for several minutes, periodically pausing to glance back, the kid hadn't come back to the path. 'I hope he knows how to navigate that place…'

"AAAAHHHH!" echoed a scream through the trees.

"Of course…" Midori sighed.

Then a loud squeal sounded mixed with the deeper undertones of a roar. Whatever it was, the creature was very large.

"Help!"

Midori ran in the direction of the noise, he heard the rustle of bushes, and cracking of wood and Armas came hurtling out of nowhere with tears streaming down his face, and snot from his snout. "Midori-san, I'm sorry, please help!"

And then Midori saw what was chasing him. It was a boar, but one far larger than any he had ever seen before, it was as large and tall as a bull, and it had thick yellow tusks stained black with dried blood, he could also sense the strong natural killing intent of a predator from this charging boar.

 _(Ba-bump)_

 _(Ba-bump)_

 _(Ba-bump)_

Midori felt his heart pumping with excitement, despite the hole in it. He charged forward towards Armas and the boar. "Keep running, brat!"

Armas swerved around him and continued to run, once he had some distance, he looked back to see what happens, from behind a tree.

Midori crouched low as he ran, hands stretching out. The boar sped up, tusks ready to skewer him. They collided with incredible force; Midori caught the tusks, which were rough to the touch, grating at the surface of his skin, drawing blood. The sheer force of its momentum and weight sent Midori skidding back, his shoes digging shallow trenches as he tried to stop it. Its football sized snout smashed heavily against his stomach as it squealed with aggression. It was much stronger than the bull that had attacked him and his sister as a kid when they were hiking.

"You're pretty strong," Midori grinned with bloodlust as he prepared his next move. Suddenly he released his grip on one of the tusks, and flipped himself to the side of the boar, and as he fell forward, Midori roughly yanked downward, making the boar dive face first into the earth. It tumbled over and over, eventually hurtling straight into a tree, it stumbled about, woozy, and before it could regain its awareness, Midori was on its back. He was about to snap its neck, when a black blob spewed out of his palm, and engulfed the boar's head, suffocating it.

'Balmung?' Midori thought in surprise, he jumped back off the boar, the black substance stretching with him, while at the same time; it stretched out over the wild pig's huge form. The boar thrashed about for nearly a minute, as Balmung expanded and contracted. 'It's eating!' Midori realised with horror. The slimy, blob like substance that formed Balmung then began to shrink and flow back into his pores, along with the boar, somehow.

* * *

Balmung custom: Level 0 to Level 1.

Acquired: **Boar's charge** _(uses the weight, strength, and voracity of the boar)_

150 EP gained.

* * *

 _Midori ignored the error message about being a stage 1 being and not getting any Ep...whatever._

* * *

Midori then felt knowledge flood into his brain. He stumbled back, gritting his teeth at the unexpected mental strain. It seemed that the blessing he had been given by God was far weaker than the version he had created fictionally. That said; it did have a number of uses. Apparently when Midori killed or put a creature in a kill situation, his blessing would devour that enemy and he could gain a new skill, though it would be limited to those the enemy had used in his presence.

'It doesn't seem like I can use Balmung freely as a physical weapon,' Midori noted. Perhaps if he levelled it up enough? 'No matter,' he decided. He had somehow acquired the defeated weapons in the previous fight. They would do for now.

'Menu…Open.' Balmung suddenly engulfed one of his eyes, spewing out from his right ear like a bubbling mask. It was a very unsettling sensation, as when it came out of his skin pores to feed, it just made his hand, wrist, and part of his arm numb until it returned.

From the black substance, he saw an image of himself with several physical stats resolving around the image. Sadly he had no magic, but then it hadn't been the King that summoned him, so he hadn't gained the same perks as those kids. They were, in gaming terms; level 1 mages with level 50 spells, great for killing, but easy to kill if someone got passed their spells.

'Oh, here we go.' Midori then spotted an item section to the side of his image, similar to the runescape game he played decades ago, with little grey squares and an appropriate icon in the centre. Midori tried pointing on the knife icon, rather than the sword, but nothing happened. 'Maybe if I…' he focused on the image of equipping, and he felt one of the iron knives appear in his left hand, he gripped it by habit, and avoided dropping it at the sudden sensation of it appearing in his hand.

'Okay, add medicinal plants to menu. Add all Gold to menu.' Midori's pockets felt lighter, and the sack strapped to his shoulder also vanished. He was lucky it hadn't torn in the fight with the boar. Two new icons filled on the item section. The substance then retracted, and he could see normally with both eyes again. It was then he realised that he had been standing their aimlessly for several minutes, Midori looked back to Armas, who was on his knees, face pressed to the ground.

"Armas?" Midori voiced, surprised by the young Orc's dogeza.

"I had no idea I was in the presence of Malvado, God of Darkness, please forgive my earlier rudeness," the ease in which the child slipped into such an extreme apology was very telling of the state of the Orc's village.

Malvado, it was a word that meant wicked or evil. But it wasn't one of the name's that had come up when Jenny and Elizabeth had explained the blessings of the six gods. So there was a seventh one that was known to the monsters. 'So that's it…the seventh god's blessing turned ones hair and eyes black, but the seventh people's hair was already black, so they were viewed as unblessed.'

"Please raise your head, Armas," Midori requested. "Whatever you might think, I am Midori Sensou. Please don't prostrate yourself like that before me." Quite frankly it made him uncomfortable.

Armas rose, his gaze showed that he did not really believe him, but he nodded neither the less. "As you wish…M-Midori."

"Let's return to the path and get you back to the village, as for your people's situation…I'll see what I can do."

Midori turned away and began walking in the direction of the path. He heard the hurried steps of Armas behind him.

"Thank you."

'However,' Midori thought, his features grim with the reality of the situation. 'At the very least your people will need to abandon this country.'

* * *

 **CHAPTER END**

 _Next chapter: Orcs and violence, part 3_

* * *

 _ **A/N:**_ _I hope you enjoyed the newest chapter. I plan to set up a kickstarter or something for this to provide artwork for the published version later down the line, I'll put a link in my profile at that time. Any help will be appreciated. To check out the original Balmung and its awesome as hell wielder, get yourself a copy of Grey Faction 1 + 2. (Available in paperback and eBook with most online retailers.)_

* * *

 _ **UPDATED STATUS PAGE!**_

Name: Midori Sensou _(Alias)_

Age: 32 (47)

Race: Undead (stage 1) 200 EP outstanding

Level: 100

Alignment: Evil arts + Unique arts

HP: 6000

MP: 0

STR: 500

DEF: 800

SPD: 300

INT: 1000

Blessing: Balmung Custom _: Boars charge,_

Magic: None

Skills: mastery of barehanded martial arts, mastery of weaponry, tracking, hunting, assassination, torture, writing, cooking, thievery, manipulation, Expert throwing, Alpha, immunity to holy, resistance maximum - all, berserker, air perception, earth perception, regeneration, magic analyse, status scan, undead create - low.

Titles:

1) World traveller blessed by Creator God

2) The man that challenges the Gods

3) Demon Lord Candidate

4) Man mistaken as Malvado - the God of Darkness

* * *

 **A/N: Armas Siga is Estonian for Cute Pig. Five guesses what Siga Kula means.**


	6. Chapter 6: Orcs and violence, part 3

**A/N:** _ **Here comes another chapter for you. Also my Grey Faction comic is now available on lulu and should be on amazon within the next week. It's 48 pages long and I'm charging £7 approx for it.**_

 _ **In unrelated news, I have a dentist appointment on Monday, and I am hoping I don't have to have anything out again, come on just fillings!**_

* * *

 **Who summons a demon lord candidate to save the world?**

By Mark Green

 _"When an author is killed by a stray bullet, he meets God and is given the unique skill 'Balmung' from one of his own books, it has the ability to kill and absorb powers and forms from defeated monsters. After which, he is summoned by the King of Finas and the magical court, along with a class of recently deceased students to be heroes. But screw that, he was just killed, sneaking off, he goes off to enjoy this magical world, and his second chance at life."_

* * *

 **Chapter 6: Orcs and violence, part 3**

* * *

" _Let's return to the path and get you back to the village, as for your people's situation…I'll see what I can do."_

 _Midori turned away and began walking in the direction of the path. He heard the hurried steps of Armas behind him._

" _Thank you."_

' _However,' Midori thought, his features grim with the reality of the situation. 'At the very least your people will need to abandon this country.'_

* * *

"What is it with you and attracting monsters?!" Midori demanded as he ran, Armas slung over his shoulder as dozens of lizard-like monsters followed them, they were similar to his world's komodo dragons in appearance, but longer limbed, and about as large as a wolf, they had suddenly ambushed the them on route to the cleared path.

"I don't know, varanus lizards usually live on bugs, and birds, and stuff," Armas complained.

'Is it me?' Midori wondered as he zigzagged among the trees. 'Or did we stumble near their mating grounds or nest?' It didn't matter, if they kept following them, he would have no choice but to fight them.

Several minutes later, he found an opening in the trees; there were several small animals, which immediately fled as he skidded backwards into view. Dropping Armas behind him, he dropped one of his iron daggers. "Use that if they get passed me." Midori's body was engulfed with a black aura laced with incredible killing intent, he had always been strong at pressuring animals and fighter's with his desire to kill, but when it came to protecting another, his instincts shifted, and became all the more terrifying, despite its noble nature.

The lizards were coming closer.

* * *

 **Skill: Alpha!**

* * *

It spread like a burst of strong wind with Midori at its epicentre. All of the creatures froze in their tracks as they felt the presence of a much stronger predator. But they didn't flee, as their own alpha stood behind them. It hissed a loud challenge, barrelling passed its kin until it stood before Midori, their gazes locked.

 _(Ba-bump)_

 _(Ba-bump)_

 _(Ba-bump)_

 _(Ba-bump)_

"I don't suppose you'll let us go?" Midori asked, not wishing the young Orc to get eaten."

A deep sibilant hiss was the only reply.

"Yeah, I figured as much…" Midori sighed as the alpha lizard reared back to attack. Quickly Midori grabbed Armas and threw him high into one of the thicker, older trees, beyond the lizard's reach –

The lizard…No, the Varanus alpha, smashed into Midori, its claws slashing at him, and its large mouth taking a chunk out of his shoulder. Blood gushed from the wound. It hadn't wasted the opening Midori had presented to hurl Armas to safety.

"Midori!" Armas yelled in terror, hanging from a thick branch.

Midori fell back, eyes loosing focus, not only from the pain, but the powerful poison in its bite.

 _(Ba-bump)_ The fog within his mind vanished in mere seconds, and Midori's eyes briefly glowed with a golden light.

Midori's arm shot forward, fingers extended like a blade, and stabbed a fist sized hole in the creature's belly. It shrieked, but bit down harder, rather than letting go.

"You damned monster, stop eating me!" Midori growled, kicking the ground hard enough to lift them both off the ground, he span them both with an over-shoulder throw, making sure that its head was what landed first. Smashing the forest floor with their combined weight, the Varanus alpha finally let go of him. Crouched atop it, Midori raised his fist, and punched with a downwards seiken, a straight punch from an unusual position. His fist crushed the creature's skull, and cracked the ground beneath them, the remaining creatures fled at this point.

Soon after, Balmung spewed out of the fist that dealt the killing blow, and devoured the Varanus.

Knowledge entered his mind again, this time it only hurt a little.

Balmung custom: Level 1 to Level 2.

* * *

Acquired: **Varanus Bite** _(a poisonous bite with horrible effects, including loss of limb control, delusions, eventually stops the lungs and heart from working)_

180 EP gained.

* * *

'Wow, my strength is so much more than it used to be,' Midori remarked in muted awe. To cave a skull like this should have broken his fist and wrist at the very least. But it didn't hurt at all. 'Speaking of not hurting at all, my shoulder…' the pain had vanished, gingerly he touched the ruined, bloody cloth of his traveller's cloak and suit, _(my suit, no!)_ however the skin beneath was unblemished, the inches of meat taken from the bite had already healed.

'I'll check the interface inside Balmung later, for now…' Midori looked up to Armas, who was already slowly climbing down.

"Are you okay, Armas?"

"I-I'm okay," Armas replied, once he was firmly back on the ground. He was looking to Midori's bloody shoulder.

Midori crouched down, pulling back the bloody cloth. "See, I'm already better."

"Wow, how'd you do that?"

"I have no idea, but it's handy, right?"

"Yeah!"

Midori picked Armas up, and put him on his shoulders, holding the little Orc's legs to keep him from falling off.

"Whoa!"

"Hold on tight kid, we need to make up for the time we lost."

'When I was running full speed all that time, I didn't feel out of breath at all, clearly not just my strength has improved, so let's see how fast I can get us there.'

* * *

 _(Hours later)_

* * *

Running at high speeds, and following Armas's occasional directions they soon made it to Siga Kula, the village of the Orcs. Roughly a mile off the main path, the Orcs had cleared several miles for farming, and used the uprooted trees to build their cabin-like homes.

They didn't immediately approach the village, hiding in the first lot of trees that framed their land. Midori was talented only at writing and fighting, but that didn't mean he was an idiot in other areas, as he read a lot for enjoyment, and researched for his creative projects, and so he knew the value of accurate information. Midori and Armas spent the rest of the day, until sunset, observing the village, the farmland, and most importantly, the actions of the soldiers overseeing them.

'Those bastards…'

Quite frankly, it was brutal. All the Orcs, regardless of age, gender , or health were forced to work at a dizzying pace, beaten or whipped whenever their pace of worked slowed too much, or if they collapsed from exhaustion. The mass of vegetables, grains, and medical plants were bagged or boxed and stored in a massive storehouse, surrounded by armed soldiers. Not once did Midori see any Orc eat or drink during their work.

'I can't let this go…can I?' Midori thought, feeling a deep heat throughout his body as he contained the dark rage that threatened to overtake his senses. They were not humans, they were strangers, but he couldn't ignore this, he hated bullies of any sort. Midori could see the sadistic joy as they dominated the Orcs, these soldiers spend most of the time under the King's control, they were nothing, but here they could stand above others through violence.

"Armas."

"Yes?"

"Who led this village before these men came?" Midori asked.

"That would be Isand Siga," Armas replied. "He is the village chief still."

"Once night falls, we'll pay him a visit, I've got a few ideas, but I'll need to run it by your people first."

"Okay."

Later, once night had fallen, and most of the soldiers had gone to the larger cabins that they'd commandeered, Midori and Armas quietly crawled through the gaps between the crops. At one point, when they were forced to remain still as a patrol passed near them, Midori decided to test one of his theories. He began grabbing at the vegetables, and willed them into his inventory; he felt the familiar numbness as Balmung took them, as the black bubbling mask grew over one of his eyes, he saw that they were there.

Midori grinned, his idea would work more easily this way, he just had to convince the Orcs to abandon this place, and hopefully they would if he stole for them all the crops and supplies that the Finas soldiers had hogged, so they didn't have to leave with nothing. The patrol passed, and Midori and young Armas continued their muddy crawl in the direction of the Orc's homes.

* * *

 **CHAPTER END**

 _Orcs and violence, part 4_

* * *

 _ **A/N:**_ _And there you have it, another chapter completed, so what are your thoughts so far on this light novel? Be sure to review and share the link for this story with your friends. I'm currently about half way through the first volume of this story. I will add a pat reon or kickstarter link in the near future for those who want to be involved. But as always you can contribute by buying any of my illustrated novels, comics, and manga, see links on my profile page. Every little helps. Also my Secret Yuuki light novels are now available cheaper via KDP, so compare prices on amazon for the best deal._

* * *

 _ **UPDATED STATUS PAGE!**_

Name: Midori Sensou _(Alias)_

Age: 32 (47)

Race: Undead (stage 1) 380 EP outstanding

Level: 100

Alignment: Evil arts + Unique arts

HP: 6000

MP: 0

STR: 500

DEF: 800

SPD: 300

INT: 1000

Blessing: Balmung Custom _: Boars charge, Varanus bite,_

Magic: None

Skills: mastery of barehanded martial arts, mastery of weaponry, tracking, hunting, assassination, torture, writing, cooking, thievery, manipulation, Expert throwing, Alpha, immunity to holy, resistance maximum - all, berserker, air perception, earth perception, regeneration, magic analyse, status scan, undead create - low.

Titles:

1) World traveler blessed by Creator God

2) The man that challenges the Gods

3) Demon Lord Candidate

4) Man mistaken as Malvado - the God of Darkness


	7. Chapter 7: Orcs and violence, part 4

_A/N: A lot of aches and pains right now, I got banned from my doctors surgery after putting in complaints about their constant fuck ups, and as I respect the profession, I find them all the more unacceptable. Hopefully I can find another local one to join soon. Well, that's enough moaning, please enjoy the newest chapter of my light novel._

* * *

 **Who summons a demon lord candidate to save the world?**

By Mark Green

 _"Midori slowly learns how to use his unique ability; Balmung and how it can create an attack from each creature it devours, as well as store anything like a game. After escaping the Finas kingdom, Midori is currently passing through an Orc Village, but the situation is dire with the kingdom's soldiers running roughshod over the villagers and taking their harvest. Will Midori be able to help, and will he risk himself to do so?"_

* * *

 **Chapter 7: Orcs and violence, part 4**

 _Midori and Armas quietly crawled through the gaps between the crops. At one point, when they were forced to remain still as a patrol passed near them, Midori decided to test one of his theories. He began grabbing at the vegetables, and willed them into his inventory; he felt the familiar numbness as Balmung took them, as the black bubbling mask grew over one of his eyes, he saw that they were there._

 _Midori grinned, his idea would work more easily this way, he just had to convince the Orcs to abandon this place, and hopefully they would if he stole for them all the crops and supplies that the Finas soldiers had hogged, so they didn't have to leave with nothing. The patrol passed, and Midori and young Armas continued their muddy crawl in the direction of the Orc's homes._

It a frustrating amount of time, but Midori and Armas finally crawled their way through the fields and the last line of patrols, reaching the residences in which the Orcs were now forced into cramped accommodation, as the soldiers had commandeered most of them, despite their smaller numbers.

'Which begs the question, why don't the Orcs rebel?' Midori wondered, wincing at the squelch of sticky mud on his palms, and the unpleasant wetness on his knees, as the mud seeped through the material. 'This is more than simple fear of the Finas's forces, are the soldiers that much more capable than the Orcs?' But Midori doubted it. No, as while clearly suffering from starvation, many of the adult male Orcs were as large as him or even bigger, and based upon the movements of the soldiers, they were nothing special. Even without the apparent boost he had gained since being revived in this world, he would have little to no trouble facing dozens alone, even unarmed.

"Midori, this is it." Armas whispered, gesturing to one of the larger cabins. They hurried to the door, crouched low. Midori looked about; there were no soldiers near enough to spot them. Armas knocked lightly on the door. They faint noises inside immediately stilled. The residents likely assumed the soldiers were at that door, and rightfully worried.

"Call to them, Armas," Midori ordered, "but quietly, if you would."

"Chief, it's me, Armas!" the little Orc called in a quiet, but urgent whisper.

The door opened, and Armas was pulled inside by a muscular arm, the door slamming shut behind him. They probably hadn't noticed that their errant child was not alone in their hurry; however the doors only had a primitive latch. So Midori stuck his dagger into the gap, and flicked it up, and before they could potentially stop him. Midori opened the door, and strode inside with more confidence than he felt.

"Evening, I trust you are doing well?" Midori remarked to those inside. There were nearly twenty of them squished into a cabin probably meant for two or three at the most. There exhaustion was clear to see, he spotted a middle-aged female Orc working on a stew of some sort, the pot was very small if it was meant for all of them, nothing else was being cooked. Midori smelt wild greens and mushrooms; they had probably gathered it from the surrounding forest after working.

The Orcs froze in shock as they realised a human was among them.

One Orc, slightly larger than the others, with a short grey beard, who was currently holding Armas by the scruff of his smock, regarded Midori with suspicion. "You are not one of those soldiers, what are you doing here?"

Midori gave a faint smile in return. "I simply escorted this child home after he sold his wares. He was attacked in the city, and I feared for his safety."

The Orc leader, Isand frowned deeply, setting down Armas. "I don't believe you. Humans only care for their own lot."

So there was still some fight in their village leader, which the soldiers hadn't yet beaten out of him. Midori pulled back the deep hood on his traveller's cloak, revealing that his hair was black; an unblessed, viewed as barely human by many ignorant people. The Orcs relaxed minutely, Isand grunted in acknowledgment, knowing that the black haired and monsters had much better relationships than the norm.

"Fine," Isand conceded. "Thank you, now leave before the soldiers come and punish us as well."

"But Midori can help us get rid of the soldiers, he's really strong, he beat a giant boar and lizard monsters with his bare hands! Armas exclaimed. He then opened his pouch, showing them the gold and silver coins. "He even brought the healing herbs from me for way more than normal."

"You shouldn't have stolen them, Armas." Isand sighed. "They'll find the coins, and they won't let us leave to purchase food."

"But when they leave…" Armas began.

"They won't leave until they work us to death and take everything," Isand snapped, the others looked downcast, they knew the truth.

"Why haven't you fled then?" Midori enquired, puzzled. A home was not worth more than one's life. Not if death was a certainty. The Orcs, other monsters, and demi-humans in this region had long lost the war. Why fight for a pride already crushed beneath the King's military might?

"Because if we try, they kill some of our young," answered the female middle-aged Orc, who had been cooking before. There was a quiet, yet profound sorrow glittering in her black eyes.

Midori immediately understood, and his emotional mask cracked ever so slightly. He lowered his head, as a gesture of apology. "I'm sorry for your loss." Her eyes swam, and her shoulders shook at the memory, but she held back her tears.

"As Naine said," Isand added with a snort. "Either way we're essentially doomed."

"If that was the only reason, you would have still chanced an escape," Midori said, laying a palm on the large Orc's shoulder. "Those soldiers are weak, as a people you should be able to easily win." Midori then realised something. Something obvious and he mentally cursed at the realisation. "Who among them are you all so frightened of that you dare not fight?"

Isand's eye's widened, his fur flaring with anger.

"It's the Captain who leads them," Naine whispered. "He is a swordsman who fought in the suppression wars, he can also use powerful fire magic. When we first had enough of the abuse and the tax on all our food, he burned dozens of us alive in an instant."

'A magic user, huh?' Midori internally sighed. "That's troublesome."

"We'll be fine," Armas said, speaking up again. "Midori is super strong; he can beat that fire man easily."

"Thanks for volunteering me, kid." Midori muttered sarcastically, but it went unnoticed by the child. "But I am strong," he added to allay their fears. "However eliminating them would just bring the wrath of the kingdom when the crops never turn up. Either way you would need to flee and find new territory beyond their reach."

"That is true," their chief conceded begrudgingly.

"So I'll give you a chance to survive," Midori added.

"They'll blame us."

"It won't matter." Midori retorted as he brushed passed the chief and held out a hand to the female Orc, palm facing up. Balmung bubbled from his pores, releasing the few vegetables he had stolen from the fields.

Naine's eyes bulged in shock, as did the others, who had been silently watching the four of them talk with trepidation.

"For the soup, or whatever that is," handing it to her, before turning to leave. The chief didn't see Midori use Balmung, assuming that the he had simply them stolen from the fields. The others who had seen it, thought of Malvado, the God that wore living darkness as its form. Both fear and hope sparked in their hearts, recalling Armas's words of the stranger's strength.

"I won't let you throw your life away, stranger, we still have a chance to survive, whatever you'll do will be used against us." Isand stated. "If you want to help, stay here."

Midori smiled faintly. "You're a good man, but too weak for this type of situation, I dislike the King, so I will save you from his greed." Midori hoped he sounded as cool as it sounded in his head.

 _(Smack!)_

Obviously not, as the Orc chief smashed his fist into Midori's cheek, intending to knock him unconscious in order to save them both. However, despite the Orc's large size and strong punch, Midori didn't budge at all, he could see the force of the punch, the push on the air around them, but he might as well have been hit by a toddler. 'I really need to look at those numbers on my status; it seems I'm getting stronger and stronger.' While Midori could endure incredible force and pain in his original world, he still felt the pain, the force, the weight of an attack like anyone else, but not now. This kind of difference wasn't from something as trivial as being two or three times stronger.

Midori didn't yet know of the limiters that existed in his magickless world, and how he could perform based upon his level without consequence. But that was not all, his blessing, Balmung custom had a passive ability of repairing its host when damaged, based upon the original Balmung's many powers. The countless injuries he had suffered, the muscles torn, bones broken, twisted, and disfigured as a result of his training as much as the fights themselves. There were times he had to change the way he fought, walked, and moved in general to compensate for the damage, but that extra awareness turned a weakness into strength. Little by little, Balmung was repairing the faults within his body, which combined with his status as an undead would produce something truly remarkable.

But those were matters of the future.

"You can't stop me like that," Midori noted calmly, gently taking away the fist from his face, making sure to let Balmung cover part of his face again, like a mask of living darkness. The Chief fell to his knees in shock, "Malvado-sama…" he muttered, stunned.

"I'm not," Midori retorted, shaking his head. "But as the bearer of the living darkness Balmung, I will act in Malvado's place." Living Darkness sounded like a cool way to refer to his blessing, he felt it croon in amusement, sensing a brief pulse of emotion; apparently it shared his opinion.

Midori continued to the door, the others had prostrated themselves. "Quietly prepare all the Orcs to flee tomorrow, have them hide anything they want to bring into the forest before dawn. I will handle the food situation."

"As you wish," Isand replied.

Midori left the cramped cabin, and walked back to the fields, crouching down to avoid being seen, he allowed Balmung to spill from his skin; it was difficult to focus it, as there wasn't anything for it to kill and consume. However if he did as he did before, and viewed all the plants and vegetables in the fields as something to store like he did with the swords and medical plants that he brought from Armas, then even in mass, he should be able to do it. The black substance spread out like a bubbling sea of ink, it spread for miles, absorbing everything it could. Via his Balmung visor (that's what he decided to call it when he could see everything Balmung had stored) he was able to see thousands upon thousands of items added to his menu, faster enough to be blurred, but most appeared to be vegetables. He even took hundreds of tonnes of mana and nutrient rich soil that the magical plants needed. Balmung retreated back into his skin, all the farmland was stripped clean. Midori then crawled to the cover of the trees that formed the border of their community and slowly made his way towards the buildings and storerooms commandeered by the king's men. There was still much to do before dawn.

* * *

 **CHAPTER END**

 _Next Chapter: Orcs and violence, part 5_

* * *

 _A/N: It's been a while, but I hope you liked the newest chapter._


	8. Chapter 8: Orcs and violence, part 5

_**A/N: Hi everyone, long time no see, I was busy publishing the following books and comics, available via Lulu online bookstore.**_

 **Grey Faction comic:** Arrival of the Grey Queen

 **Detective Michael comic:** Scalpel & the Hunt

 **Vampire Attack light novel:** Shadow Force _**(comes with comic)**_

 **Vampire 'N' Things:** Book 3 of the 'N' Things horror anthologies

 _ **Now without further delay, enjoy chapter eight of this story.**_

* * *

 **Who summons a demon lord candidate to save the world?**

By Mark Green

 _"Midori slowly learns how to use his unique ability; Balmung and how it can create an attack from each creature it devours, as well as store anything like a game. After escaping the Finas kingdom, Midori is currently passing through an Orc Village, but the situation is dire with the kingdom's soldiers running roughshod over the villagers and taking their harvest. Will Midori be able to help, and will he risk himself to do so?"_

* * *

 **Chapter 8: Orcs and violence, part 5**

* * *

Dawn peeked gradually over the dense trees, casting much needed light upon the Orc village. The Orcs gradually awoke, their muscles still stiff and sore from the previous day's work. Some had been unable to rest with the knowledge that the black haired stranger was enacting some plan against the soldiers. At least those in the cabin hadn't gone hungry that night. Actually eating something from their own fields, rather than the thin fare they found from the surrounding forest.

The former Orc chief had gone out to the other cabins and spread the word as best he could. Asking those he couldn't get to because of the patrols that they pass on the message once the day began, and they could leave their cabins without risk of beatings or worse. They marched out quietly, in unison, heads bowed. You could easily imagine chains and shackles of a slave, for now they are no different, and showed it in their bearing. Nevertheless, hope now flickered in the hearts of those that knew, hope and fear.

"Do you really think he can help us?" one of the Orcs from another cabin asked.

"Aye, that lad is something different to humans," Isand replied in a whisper. "Have you all moved your belongings?"

"Only that which we could easily carry," the Orc whispered back. "But we can hardly carry our homes on our backs."

Before the old Orc could reply, they heard angry shouting. Looking up, they saw the soldiers, livid with fury, and what Midori had done while they slept. "How could one man do all this?" Isand muttered, his voice hoarse, this was unbelievable. The vast fields that they had laboured upon was now gone. Every crop, neither burned or eaten, but simply gone. The fields had been replaced by deep holes in the earth; even the mana rich soil had vanished.

"This is impossible!" One soldier raved.

"We were patrolling all night, how?"

"Was it those damn Orcs?" one snarled, and another tried to calm him.

"They would have done it sooner if that was true, and look at them, do they look well fed?"

"Damn your right, but someone did this."

"What will the King say when we only bring part of a harvest? He wanted to use it to feed the advance forces."

"Forget the King, what will happen when the captain finds out about this?" another rightly said, their captain was almost as cruel to those that disappointed him, as he was towards his enemies.

"Shit, he's right!"

"I don't want to get burned!"

The angry shouting of the soldiers quietened immediately. He was right, they needed to resolve this quickly, or at least find someone to blame the theft on as a last resort. "What about the Orcs?"

"Yes, we could blame them."

"But what about the missing food? They couldn't have eaten it all."

"We'll search the forest, but we should kill a bunch of the Orcs, some corpses to blame it on in the meantime."

"Captain keeps himself busy, and sleeps in late, we've got time."

"Kill the scrawnier ones, they can't carry as much."

"Good idea," one of the soldiers grinned, grabbing a nearby child, who had gotten too close in order to see the missing fields. "We'll start with you, eh?"

"Wait, please not the child!" Isand demanded, hurrying forward. A nasty cut appeared on his shoulder, as another soldier swiftly intercepted the Orc and slashed at him with his short sword. Isand collapsed onto one knee with a gasp at the sudden pain.

"Stay back, Porker, or do you want to go first?"

Isand grit his teeth, holding his furred hand over the wound.

The soldier pointed his sword at the Orc child's throat, and then he collapsed to the ground dead, his head exploding with blood, teeth, and grey matter. A fist sized rock had been thrown in a manner similar to a pitcher; however with more force than any baseball player in reality could manage. The rock continued, shattering against a tree in the distance, and un-rooting it. The soldiers however didn't see the rock, so fast had it been thrown, the air pressing at them as it passed. All they saw was an exploding head.

"Huh?"

"His head, just…"

"Be sharp, we're under attack!"

They knocked back the Orcs, who with that aggressive prompt then withdrew from the danger, hiding by the cabins. The soldiers briefly spotted a man dressed in black and brown arm extended, before he swiftly disappeared into the shadows of the trees.

"So that's him?"

"We've got a magic caster, spread out, if we're bunched together, he'll get us all." They spread apart, yet kept a loose square formation, facing outwards, having hidden himself; Midori might attack from any side. "Kenneth, go fetch the captain!"

The aforementioned blonde soldier, nodded once, and ran deeper into the village. He didn't get far, another rock, slightly smaller, but no less deadly struck the back of his head. Kenneth, now (mostly) headless, collapsed into a growing puddle of sticky blood. Once again there was a brief flash of brown and black, and their attacker disappeared back into the forest.

"My Goddess Sua, he's dead."

"The bastard…"

"Looks like we're not getting out of here so easily," the apparent leader of the little group, he had a few extra badges on his armour, though they meant nothing to the Orcs or Midori. "We'll retreat, but kill him if you can." He then turned his attention to the partly hidden Orcs. "You damn Pigs."

The Orcs frowned at the insult, but one eventually replied. "Yes?"

"Get out here, and be our meat shields, or we roast you."

"If we'll die either way, I choose the one where you die first," Isand replied with a pained smirk.

"Yeah, Midori-sama's going to kill all you baddies!" yelled out Armas from amidst the group, he was promptly hushed by the others.

"Midori, sounds like a girl's name."

"So you know him?" the leader of the small group demanded, his name is Joseph. "I get it, you snuck him in here to rob us, finally decided to grow a pair, you damned Pigs?" Naine covered Armas's mouth before he could get himself in more trouble.

"How about we kill you pigs for meat shields?" Joseph threatened. He then took a single step towards them, and he also lost his head from a rock.

"If it's all the same, we'll stay out of it."

The soldiers fled to the cabins closer to the storerooms where the produce was stored before being sent out. There were more soldiers and of the course, the captain. The captain was a powerful fire type magic caster, but it wasn't his power that made others both rely upon and fear him. His actions during the war, and his viciousness within the kingdom during peacetime led the King to sending him to missions on the outskirt of the country.

Several more of their numbers were killed by rocks on the journey as Midori pursued them, though he had to use more than one projectile now, as finding fist sized rocks quickly was not realistic while on the run. He carefully thinned their numbers, taking no chances. He hadn't expected their heads to explode initially, but the otherworlder was quick to utilize his strength accordingly. Midori found it to be remarkable, truly appreciating how much stronger he had gotten, however given he was killing fellow humans, what he was most used to fighting, he could judge it more accurately than he did with the boar or varanus. He ignored the constant EP announcements as he killed each person. It wasn't time for games.

When the soldiers drew closer to the area where most of the soldiers were quartered, they were stunned to see many other soldiers already dead. They were scattered about, some bunched together in fallen formations, others alone. All of them had either stab wounds to the back, or their throats were slit. They had been killed swiftly without a chance to fight back.

Several of them screamed in fear.

"Captain Raub!" one yelled to one cabin in particular. "We're under attack!"

The shouting soldier was suddenly engulfed in blue and white flames, igniting immediately around his body. He had just enough time to shriek and collapse, before his now charred body crumbled into ash. What kind of ridiculous temperature did one need to do that? It would have to be much more than 1800 degrees, the temperature in which bodies are cremated to ash over three continuous hours, close to a Dicyanoacetylene flame, the hottest record fire to exist on Earth.

"I am aware of that, you idiots at the edge got lucky having your shift in the morning," stated a man in his early twenties. He had dark red hair and silver eyes, was slender, but had the compact muscles of a runner or swimmer. He wasn't in his iron and leather armour, rather dressed in a simple white line shirt and brown trousers, hurriedly put on, and a single short sword belted to his waist. Not that he looked unprepared for combat, as his stance, movements, and gaze was heavy with predatory intent. Midori felt a chill down his back, even without the show of fire magic, here was trouble. He didn't like dealing with crazy.

" _ **Ignis**_ ," Captain Raub muttered casually as he approached his other soldiers, who subtly shook in fear, believing they might be next for failing to stopping the food theft. The briefest of aura's surrounded Raub; a simple magic crest appeared in the air made from mana, glowing with lines of red and silver. It came and went in less than a second. Raub did not point; he did not look in Midori's direction, who was currently hidden, but even so Midori moved.

As Midori saw the crest, he somehow knew its purpose, intent, range, and many other aspects of the spell. He threw himself hard to the side, hitting the ground face first. Fire burned for a moment in the space where Midori had previously occupied. The flames latched onto a nearby tree, but Midori was safe. This was the first time that Midori used the sensory skill: Magic Analyse and it would prove to be a valuable weapon. Midori cursed as he scrambled to his feet, as by dodging, he revealed his location to the surviving soldiers. Raub regarded him with a smirk, and eyes that sparkled with the promise of violence. "Hello, kindling," he greeted almost politely. "How fast do you want to burn?"

* * *

 **CHAPTER END**

 _ **Next Chapter:**_ _Man of searing flames_

* * *

 _ **A/N:**_ _I know it was kind of short, but I hope you enjoyed it nevertheless. In the next chapter, events really start to_ _ **heat**_ _up._

* * *

 _ **STATUS PAGE**_

Name: Midori Sensou _(Alias)_

Age: 32 (47)

Race: Undead (stage 1) 450 EP outstanding

Level: 100

Alignment: Evil arts + Unique arts

HP: 6000

MP: 0

STR: 500

DEF: 800

SPD: 300

INT: 1000

Blessing: Balmung Custom _: Boars charge, Varanus bite,_

Magic: None

Skills: mastery of barehanded martial arts, mastery of weaponry, **tracking** , **hunting** , **assassination** , torture, writing, cooking, thievery, manipulation, **Expert throwing** , Alpha, immunity to holy, resistance maximum - all, berserker, air perception, earth perception, regeneration, **magic analyse** , status scan, undead create - low.

Titles:

1) World traveller blessed by Creator God

2) The man that challenges the Gods

3) Demon Lord Candidate

4) Man mistaken as Malvado - the God of Darkness


	9. Chapter 9: Man of searing flames

_A/N: It's been ages since I've updated this light novel, my apologies. I've been busy; holes in the gut aren't fun. In any case, please enjoy Raub vs. Midori._

 _BTW this story is told from both fighters POV. Don't get confused if you skim-read this._

* * *

 **Who summons a demon lord candidate to save the world?**

By Mark Green

* * *

 _"Midori slowly learns how to use his unique ability; Balmung and how to create a soul avatar from each creature it devours. After escaping the Finas kingdom, Midori is currently passing through an Orc Village, but the situation is dire with the kingdom's soldiers running roughshod over the villagers and taking their harvest. Midori successfully steals the crops back and stores them within Balmung; however he must now face the feared fire mage leading the soldiers while the orcs flee their burning village."_

* * *

 **Chapter 9: Man of Searing Flames**

 **(Midori POV)**

The flames turned the surrounding trees into a fiery death trap. The Orcs, who were already near the edge of the village were able to flee quite easily, it wasn't that easy for me however. The flames currently seared my skin, boiled my fat, and ruined the suit I had died in. The bastard, I liked that suit. No matter what I did, the flames burned at me, Raub's flame were so hot that simply dodging wasn't enough – even the surrounding air super-heated. As I figured out his patterns and improved my evasion, he swiftly and wisely covered the surrounding area with his flames. Raub's experience as a soldier was clear to see, as he discarded precision for area of effect spellcraft.

'This man is insane!' I thought as I saw his own soldiers crumble into ash around him. Thankfully it seemed the orcs were outside his initial range and after seeing the white and blue flames wisely and swiftly fled. At least I didn't have to worry about them. Good.

One of my arms lost its feeling as a new flame grazed me, it must of destroyed the nerves. Even with my seemingly subdued pain receptors and regeneration, this man's fire truly hurt. I would scream. God it was hard not to. I grit my teeth, drawing blood, which swiftly evaporated. If I breathed in or out while close to the flames, they would consume the oxygen and burn my mouth, throat, and lungs. With how much damage I kept taking, how long would it take to heal internal injuries?

Being stabbed all the way through the shoulder by a goblin during the settlement invasion had hurt badly enough… Or when the Evil God tore out my…Wait, what? I've not fought a goblin yet in this world and certainly not a god. I set aside the odd mental slip and flash of memory to continue trying to close the distance between us.

The problem?

Raub won't allow that.

He swiftly moved out of my line of sight, maintaining his distance. From what I had done to his soldiers, the crazy bastard had deduced I was too physically strong to fight at close range, and with the heat and the flames obscuring my vision I couldn't find anything to throw at him. Besides that, with magic so strong that not even my modified existence can handle it, Raub didn't need to worry, assuming my healing is based on magic consumption, he could burn me until I eventually run out of mana and died.

Unfortunately for him, I have no magic, only skills and a blessing from an easily intimidated god. But did my seeming immortality have a limit unknown to me? That was a terrifying thought. I might just suddenly drop dead. But I forgot that surge of fear as part of my face was blasted off, the upper-right corner of my head, along with my right eye, while my left one kept sizzling and barely functioned.

" **Grrr!"** I growled like an animal, deep, threatening. Like a starved wolf before the pounce. But inwardly fear slithered into my soul. If I truly couldn't die then how much more of this would I have to suffer through? I had to ignore it. This pain is nothing. I must dive into him; force a close fight – even if it meant taking many blows directly. Don't fear pain. I can do this. I can do this. I can do this. Don't be scared. Oh god it hurts. Ignore it. Get low, tense your muscles. They're screaming, fire eating into the muscles, no skin to protect them. Stretching seared muscles. Hold in a scream, grow new muscle strands. I can't deny my fear of this pain. But fear can be a motivator – use it! Survive! Kill!

Raub says something. I can't hear him. I think my ears might be gone.

I know what to do. With the two monsters Balmung consumed I can end this. The avatar of the giant boar appears around me, ghost-like but I feel its strength and movements take hold. I charge, kicking the ground, it crumples inward like sand. My surroundings become a blur. But Raub has conjured a large, dense, swirling inferno.

I charge right into its path, unable to change course. I would have to tank this. Don't be afraid, keep going. Your body has no skin already. You're burning already from glancing attacks. What difference will it make? Don't be a coward! Then searing flames hit me, engulfing my body in its entirety and I experience a level of agony that I have never known. But soon all my nerves die, along with most of my muscles. My remaining eye bubbles away. But Boars Charge continues. I pass through the enormous fire spell. I know this because my regeneration suddenly speeds up. Some of my nerves regrow in time to feel me colliding with Raub. I smash him through several trees. His blood vomits over me and then evaporates. More of my muscles regrow, along with left eye, and the right not far behind it.

I can see him. I see fear in his eyes, but his manic bloodlust and pride suppresses it. Raub endures my Boar's Charge. He isn't dead. He says something, but I can't hear him clearly, my ears are still ruined, but I've regrown several layers of skin. Still missing my genitals, but I'd prefer they regrow after Raub is dealt with. My charge has moved us away from the flames that had engulfed the entirety of Siga Kula – Finally! My regeneration increases in speed again.

Another magic circle appears in front of Raub, inches from my face. I can tell it will force me away and undo my regeneration, using flames prioritising more expanding force than heat via more hydrogen in the construct to cause an explosion. I can't have this – I won't start over again, I'm finally close – I must attack. I open my mouth wide, the sides of my mouth tearing open for a wider bite. My canines lengthen like a vampire, I channel the Varanus and then I bite!

* * *

 **(Raub POV)**

"Do you want to burn?" I laughed, launching my special fireballs at the black haired invader. Why were they special you might wonder? Due to my secondary blessing 'Unique' I could alter the chemical properties of the reaction that creates fire. I could increase the oxygen concentration to make the fire bigger and spread faster, or gases like methane, Propane, and hydrogen to make the fire not only stronger but explosive.

With my great destructive power and control I was able to easily join the war effort and spend my time slaughtering monsters and demi-humans. I love to kill people too, but the king wouldn't stand for that so I made do, quickly becoming a famed soldier in the war effort alongside the summoned heroes – however unlike them, I lived! Only the silver haired brat survived and that was because they didn't want to send a small child to war. The idiots, anything could be a resource, and once the war was over the king adopted her, elevated her to princess of all things, her potential wasted.

The king even didn't sell her body off to another kingdom as most young girls of royal blood were for political gain, the supposed 'arranged marriage' but in reality they were merely conscripted whores for their noble father's sake. That said I wouldn't mind a night with her myself, she's got her curves now and still young enough to appeal to me. I bet she would cry so prettily if I took her purity from her. She had a toughness in her eyes, a look of distain when I was present. Such a turn on, breaking her would be difficult but such a joy. Sadly the king, though as practical and cruel as me, he worried too much about public opinion, hiding behind a mask of benevolence. When I began approaching her, and when I killed the guards trying to stop me. The king sent me to the outskirts of the kingdom to steal from and harass the monster kin and demi-humans.

The king intended to expand the borders using the next bunch of heroes. Sadly I wouldn't be present for summoning, but I got to have my fun with the Orcs, even the lowly conscripted soldiers I was given to command slowly learned the joys of dominating those weaker than them. In doing so they became useful overseers while we took the hard labours of the Orcs farming. Their harvest, along with many others would be ours.

So far we had annexed this territory simply to gain a sea port. But the king wanted the elven kingdoms and forest-kin alliance lands, and first he needed bases to send his troops from, and the land clear of non-humans. I looked forward to the genocide. It is so much fun to burn living creatures to death. The way they shriek and beg. There is a joy in it that no sexual pleasure can match.

However the unexpected happened.

The harvest was gone.

The fields and magic herb gardens stripped bare. Heck, even the soil was gone, leaving deep indents in the ground. But that wasn't all, the large store houses and granaries had also been robbed. All of it gone during the night. The orcs couldn't have done this; they hadn't the time, will, or resources to enact such a plan under my nose. Then my men were killed, quietly, carefully, like an assassin. Necks snapped, stabbed from behind, and later killed from the shadows of the forest by thrown rocks of all things. The one responsible was strong though, monstrously strong as my soldier's heads exploded from the force of the small projectiles.

Despite their careful hit and run tactics I finally cornered him, sending a silent, near instantly cast spell, and even then the brown cloaked stranger was able to dodge. He must be able sense magic, not even war time mages could react so well to my fastest spells. He hit the ground, our eyes met, I smirked, and he glared. The stranger had revealed his position to my surviving soldiers, and even if it meant burning them too, I would use them to aid in the kill.

A brown and black blur!

He passed all of my soldiers before I realised he had moved. My instincts kicked in, shoving aside my shock as I dodged his claw-like lunge, his body pushing powerfully at the air. I was stunned, such physical strength could kill any man – but they had to be close. In response to his attempt, I began raining fire down upon him. He avoided them, but was forced to fall back. I wouldn't let this stranger get close.

The stranger swiftly got used to my current attack patterns, but due to how hot I made my flames, even when dodging I seared at his flesh, much of his clothing aflame. "What's wrong, did you honestly think you can beat me without magic?" I mocked him, analysing his reactions. He ignored me, focused on dodging, or at least limiting the damage when dodging completely was impossible.

'This guy!' I was captivated. Not once did he scream, even as his clothes, skin and muscles were burned away. This man was strong, this inhuman resistance, this man wouldn't be easy to break, and despite what many would think, I don't enjoy tormenting the weak. What truly makes me happy is finding a sturdy toy to play with.

He wanted to get close. I won't make it easy. "Come on my burned and flayed adversary, do you have the courage to face this?" I conjured a gigantic fireball, I changed the chemical compound to make it as hot as possible, I compressed the flames into a dense mass, and yet still it was a large attack. My earlier flames left him nowhere to dodge without further pain. As expected he charged into my attack, he wouldn't make it through, even if he can heal, this white flame will turn him to ash. I can see his fear, his wavering resolve battling with fear and predatory intent. I wish I could torture him slowly, but this is the end.

I see the image of a massive boar overlapping the naked, burning man.

"What the hell?"

But it doesn't matter, he is engulfed by my fire as he tries to force his way through.

It's pointless.

You've lost.

I've won.

" **GRAAAHHHH!"** A garbled bestial scream bashed against my ears. No it can't be.

Impossible!

Little more than a charred skeleton with only the barest layers of muscles and yet he got through it!

Just how fast does he heal? No this is more akin to the regeneration of a high level monster; this was not a human's healing skill or spell. Time seems to slow to a crawl. I remember this sensation well, on the battlefield in the instant before your death; your senses stretch themselves to their limit so that you can survive. I saw the muscles writhe, stretch, and regrow in that brief instant.

I can't avoid him, he crashes into me. I feel my ribs break, we smash into a tree. I vomit blood. I feel sick, my head and vision swims. I ignore it, a new spell is cast. I will force him back and –

I see the vast maw of a Varanus lizard overlapped with my opponent. His own mouth opened impossibly wide, he has torn his lips at the sides. Faster than the completion of my spell or my physical reactions, he bites into my neck and everything goes dark.

* * *

 **CHAPTER END**

 _ **Next Chapter:**_ _Aftermath_

* * *

 _A/N: Well there you go, stay tuned (eventually) for the aftermath. What will the Orcs do now, where will they go? And who wants to see this illustrated? This would be gory as fuck, and when my book and comic sales pick up, that's one of the things I want to do._

* * *

 _ **STATUS PAGE**_

Name: Midori Sensou _(Alias)_

Age: 32 (47)

Race: Undead (stage 1) 1698 EP outstanding

Level: 100

Alignment: Evil arts + Unique arts

HP: 6000

MP: 0

STR: 500

DEF: 800

SPD: 300

INT: 1000

Blessing: Balmung Custom _: Boars charge, Varanus bite,_

Magic: None

Skills: mastery of barehanded martial arts, mastery of weaponry, tracking, hunting, assassination, torture, writing, cooking, thievery, manipulation, Expert throwing, Alpha, immunity to holy, **resistance maximum - all** , **berserker** , air perception, earth perception, **regeneration** , **magic analyse** , status scan, undead create - low.

Titles:

1) World traveller blessed by Creator God

2) The man that challenges the Gods

3) Demon Lord Candidate

4) Man mistaken as Malvado - the God of Darkness


End file.
